A Torn Family

Chapter 14

"You're crazy." The boy from the front desk, Michael, insisted. "Just go away or I'm calling the cops."

"Hang on a second. Just listen to me." Dean leaned over the desk to meet the young boy's eyes. "You have to believe me, okay? This thing came through the window and it attacked your brother. Now I've seen it. I know what it looks like because it attacked my brother once, too. A long time ago."

The boy hesitantly put the phone back on the receiver.

"This thing, is it like... it has this long, black robe?"

"You saw it last night, didn't you?" Dean asked the kid.

"That's what it looks like?" I hissed at Sam. "You almost got killed by a grandma wearing a grim reaper costume. What a way for it to end."

"You would've been the next night."

"Shut up, Sam."

"Will both of you be quiet?" Dean snapped, and both Sam and I shut up. Dean turned back to the young boy. "I'm right, aren't I. You saw it attack your brother."

"I thought- I thought I was having a nightmare." The boy answered.

"I'd give anything not to tell you this-"

"Dean, don't." I warned him. "He can't turn back once you tell him."

"I want to know." Michael stood up taller, looking fiercely at Dean. "He's my little brother. I can't protect him from what I don't know."

"Sometimes nightmares are real, kid." Dean pursed his lips, no doubt angry at himself for telling such a young child about our world.

"Oh..." Michael looked confused for a moment. "Why are you telling me this?"

"Because we need your help." Dean sighed. "We can kill it, the three of us. Hell, I've been thinking about killing it for fourteen years. That's what we do. But we can't do it without you."

"What? No." Michael shook his head at us.

"Michael, listen to me." Dean lowered his voice even more so Sam and I could barely hear. "This thing hurt Asher, your little brother, and it's gonna keep hurting kids until we stop it. Do you understand me?"

"I said no."

I wasn't sure whether to be relieved or upset. The shtriga was probably going after Michael anyways. Why didn't the boy realize that it wouldn't just save his brother, it might save him too.

"Well that went crappy." Dean paced our motel room when we got back.

"What'd you expect?" Sam asked. "You can't ask an adult to do something like that, much less a kid."

"He was expecting Michael to be like him, weren't you, Dean?" Dean avoided my eyes. "You thought you could play on the older brother mindset. That your siblings are your responsibility. That you're held accountable for anything that happens to them."

"Luce-"

"Well that's crap, Dean!" I threw a book against the wall. "You are not responsible for the world. You're not even responsible for me. Stop killing yourself to try and protect us, because the only thing hurting us right now is seeing you try and carry the world alone."